Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 222: Really Too Rich

At a reception banquet, Zhao Guangmei soon felt uninterested because Cao Bin had a bad face throughout. After eating, she put down her chopsticks and stood up to leave on the pretext that she had something else to do.

When everyone saw that Zhao Guangmei had left, they naturally became even less interested. The same was true for Cao Bin. He put down his chopsticks and said some polite words to everyone before leaving. The remaining people had no rightful owner and it was not easy to be in such a formal occasion. The banquet ended early before the singer and dancer even had a chance to perform half of her show.

Zhao Guangmei is also really busy. The summer tax is about to be collected. This is the first time the court has abandoned the old tax law and implemented the new tax law. It is also the first tax collection after the complete merger of the Third Division and the trading company. Can How much you charge will make the people too miserable, everyone in the world will be watching.

Even Zhao Guangyi is busy day and night now. Of course he knew that Cao Bin forced the palace at the celebration banquet and involved the problem between the uncle and Yao Shu, but he didn't care after knowing it, although Cao Bin himself was indeed still making small moves , seemed unwilling to let it go, he was too lazy to take care of the matter, and didn't even ask.

He and Zhao Guangmei have a tacit understanding. They can't pursue, confront, and settle accounts. They can't reach this level. Besides, Yao Shu can't have any big problems. How can the people around him think so hard that they would join the local tycoons to embezzle money and harm the people?

On the contrary, this summer tax this year made him attach great importance to it, because this year's Kaifeng Mansion is indeed very rich. Although there are fewer exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the value-added tax and income tax collected are astronomical figures.

Because large transactions always have to be done at a money bank, at least at this stage, larger merchants have to go to a money bank to report once a month, because everyone has an account and a loan, and they all have to repay it. When making a large transaction, you still have to go to the bank account and have it notarized. After all, everyone won’t be at ease if it’s not notarized.

This led to the fact that as long as the government office and the money bank communicated with each other and reconciled their accounts, at least those big businessmen with big businesses would know at a glance how much tax they should pay.

Is there a new tax collection method? Private tax evasion tricks have not yet been researched.

In addition, although the trading houses are currently split up, they still hold shares in various large workshops and private trading houses, and they also manage the accounts openly. How much money these factories make and how much tax they should pay can be collected without Zhao Guangyi having to worry about it. Gotta come up.

Coupled with the land transfer fee, this is even more scary.

The Song Dynasty, which bid farewell to metal currency for the first time and used credit currency, was extremely shocked every time when it came to the word money. According to Zhao Guangyi's preliminary calculations, this year's summer tax is only for one city in Kaifeng, and at least it can give It’s good to give away more than 3000 million yuan!

This is equivalent to the imperial court's fiscal and tax revenue for a whole year when the country was first founded. Even the richest people in history, the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, only had this amount in one year.

Of course, inflation is also quite fierce now. It would be good if these 3000 million guan can be used as 2000 million guan in the past. Moreover, the court's current expenditure is also scary compared to before.

But this is only Kaifeng Prefecture, and besides, it’s only the summer tax.

If nothing else goes wrong, this should be his last year as Kaifeng governor in charge of Kaifeng affairs. Next year, this place will be handed over to Zhao Guangmei. Based on his understanding of Zhao Guangmei, this guy will definitely do better than himself, but Before he leaves, he must still hand over a satisfactory answer sheet as much as possible.

It would also be a good way to prove to the world that he, the King of Qi, is also capable.

Anyway, except for the academic officials, the entire Kaifeng Mansion was very busy. Even the gatekeepers started to hold a pen in their mouth and go to various major enterprises to audit the accounts and taxes.

The academic officials are a bit special. The third brother has recently been further promoting the New Confucianism, which has led to this group of people starting to work with the third brother again.

"Your Highness, the ten grassroots tax collectors who went to the countryside today have all returned. Counties are generally not very active in collecting summer taxes. They say that there is almost no harvest."

"It is true that the township tax cannot be collected. Alas~, it seems that what Lu Duoxun said is indeed not without purpose. Anyway, the third brother has been prepared for this matter. Now I, the Song Dynasty , the city tax alone should be enough, this is my tax, the profit of the third brother's business is probably only a lot more than mine, so I don't need them."

Nowadays, the New Deal is being implemented everywhere, and the essence of the New Deal is to strengthen the city and weaken the countryside. The originally self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy has almost been destroyed.

The poor people are actually doing well, because the current employment situation in Luoyang, Kaifeng, is almost a bottomless pit. People are rushing to get it wherever they go. If they don't farm, they can just work in factories. But those powerful landlords are really uncomfortable. There are still trading houses there. They wantonly occupied land and set up collective farms.

This is reflected in the power structure, which emphasizes government power and underestimates county power. Originally, the county government was the government office that managed the most general affairs in the Song Dynasty. A county government office had to have one or two hundred subordinate staff. Now the imperial court has all the officials. It was cut off, and the outstanding ones went to the city to become government officials, and the yamen that were not outstanding enough were ignored. All the things that should have been handled by the county yamen were ignored.

Kaifeng was the first city to be reformed during the reform last year, so this problem was naturally exposed earlier. The most important thing is that the judicial reform and anti-corruption storm launched by Cao Bin this time was superimposed, and the county government below was wiped out. Most of them have just been replaced by scribes.

To sum up, if the power and responsibilities of government affairs are unclear, the matching manpower is insufficient, and if you do the wrong things and you are dismissed, then the county governments at all levels will naturally be in ruins. If you do too much, you will make many mistakes, and if you don't do well, it will be considered a yes.

Lu Duoxun pointed out that if the court continues to be so laissez-faire towards townships and counties, it will not be long before the court completely loses all control over the grassroots countryside.

Everyone felt that what Lu Duosun said might have some truth to it.

Then everyone will do whatever they need to do.

After all, there are now rich people and people in the city, and development and construction are getting better and better. In the countryside... some radicals already feel that there is no need to collect agricultural taxes.

Since you don't mean to collect money from them, the lives of your villagers naturally don't matter. Even among the New Confucian schools established by Lu Mengzheng and others, there are enough voices that believe that grassroots governance is a burden for the country. , the cost is high and the return is low, it is better to just let it go. If there are powerful people who illegally oppress the people, they will only force the people to go to the cities to work, which is actually a good thing for the country.

This kind of voice is not mainstream in the imperial court or in the New Confucian circles, but it does exist.

"Ignore the township taxes for now, let's calculate our business in Kaifeng City first. Within three days, we must calculate an exact number. The court has spent a lot of money this year, and there are still a lot of loans to repay. We are short of money. "

Zhao Guangyi still has traditional thinking. He always feels that since the court has borrowed money and spent it, it has no money.

the other side.

Zhao Guangmei's business bank is also in the process of settling accounts in full swing. This year's summer accounts are really special for the business bank. Not only did it close all the deficits owed by the business bank last year, but there was also an astronomical surplus.

Because Zhao Guangmei has basically packaged and sold the entire business. Except for the power plants, money shops, and gunpowder factories that really involve the fundamentals, almost none of his factories in various industries are left behind. Even though In heavy industries such as cement plants, the overall proportion of commercial banks has shrunk to 49%.

Of course, the major shareholders are Shi Shouxin and others. They used their shares in the commercial bank as collateral to obtain loans from the money bank, and used these loans to invest in the management rights and ownership of these factories.

It's a bit like a left-hand thing, a loss of assets, but reform is nothing more than trying every means to turn public money into private money. If private people don't have money, they can only borrow from money banks. There's nothing wrong with it.Besides, none of the major shareholders of this business firm are not their own, and they are all related by marriage to the old Zhao family, so the wealth has not gone to outsiders.

This has resulted in commercial banks having a huge amount of funds left in money banks this year, and the figures are scary.

"Your Highness, the accounts are out. Counting the huge sum of money in the money bank, the commercial bank's surplus this year is... more than 400 million yuan. This does not include the dividends of each factory calculated at the end of the year. This is too... …Too much."

"So much, it's equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the past ten years plus one dollar. But unfortunately, it's all a one-time deal. It's unlikely that there will be so much in the future. It should be much less, but... forget it, Let’s have a meeting.”

Soon, Zhao Guangyi also calculated the figures, and it turned out to be more than 100 million guan. The two brothers took the income of nearly [-] million guan to report to Zhao Kuangyin in the palace, which made Zhao Kuangyin so happy that his nose was soaked with snot. Out.

After being the emperor for so long, I never thought that I could actually use billions as a unit of measurement.

I have never been so rich.

"Okay, okay, okay, great, great. I have a third brother. It's my great fortune to have a third brother, and it's a blessing to the people of the world. Of course, the second brother is also doing very well."

"Brother, one-third of the money of the trading company must be paid to the court as taxes. Well... although the third division has been swallowed up by us now, it is becoming more and more like the left hand is the right hand, but it should still be paid. Damn it, how will this money be spent...? I will definitely have a meeting on my end, but before the meeting, please set a tone."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded repeatedly when he heard this: "Yes, how to spend so much money is really a problem. This... how much money does the court owe the bank now?"

"At present, the total amount of money the imperial court owes is less than [-] million yuan, but most of it is for the construction of Luoyang, and the budget for repairing rivers and Chidao is still lying on the money bank's accounts and has not been spent."

"There is actually so much, then... how about we pay back the money as much as possible first? I always feel uncomfortable owing so much money, not to mention that there is interest on the money. With such a large amount of money, how much money will it cost when the time comes? There is always interest on tens of millions of dollars, right?"

Zhao Guangmei couldn't laugh or cry at this kind of financial management idea like an old farmer, so she had to say: "Brother, don't worry about the court's loan. If you really use these taxes to repay the loan, it will be equivalent to the money bank's [-] million yuan that has not been released, and there are two more If you put in [-] million, it is equivalent to [-] million idle inside. This is the biggest waste. It is not a bad thing for the court to make some debts appropriately. As long as it can be repaid and there is no pressure when repaying, it is actually still a big deal. It’s a good thing that every money spent by the court falls on the people, which is profit and wealth for the people. To be honest, if the court had not done several such big projects, the people would not be able to open so many factories. , it is impossible for us to collect so much tax this year. This money is like water. What is spent goes out and flows back in a big circle."

After thinking about it, he added: "Besides, brother, you don't have to worry about these hundreds of millions of loans. These were considered when we were originally designing them, and it is impossible to repay them."

"Not to mention anything else, after the capital is moved, the original Forbidden Army barracks must be renovated intensively. It should be enough to leave one of the original five barracks areas to be built into a community. This will free up nearly half of Kaifeng City's land. Yu Gai Factory can earn at least [-] million just by renting and selling these lands. Similarly, after Luoyang is positioned as the capital, the land prices in Luoyang will naturally rise with the tide. This real estate project alone can basically make the capital move. The expenses are filled in. To put it bluntly, as long as the city's population can be fully employed, it will be too easy for the court to make money."

After finishing speaking, Zhao Guangmei said cautiously: "Besides... well... since Kaifeng is no longer the capital, the palace is useless, leaving only one corner to serve as a palace, and the palace walls... can actually be demolished. "

"Hmm...huh? Destroy, demolish my palace wall for what."

"Of course it is used for high-end real estate projects, with real royal quality. The palaces in the harem should be slightly modified, and they can be circled for takeout. An exquisite small courtyard is built in the imperial garden, which is a high-end residential area. "

"At that time, all the facilities in the palace, even the maids, old eunuchs, etc. will have to be left behind. Once the owner comes home, the whole ceremony will be like serving us. No matter what the use is, all he wants is this face."

"At that time, the neighbors will be either the major shareholders of the trading company or the local retired governor. Even if they are not good enough, they will be a royal princess or something. The carriages will use Dawan horses or even sweat-blooded BMWs. If you Riding a Liao horse will make you embarrassed to say hello to your neighbors."

"High-end quality, the former residence of the Emperor. The bricks on the ground are genuine imperial gold bricks, and the tiles above the head are real gold-edged glazed tiles. This is the kind of house in this community, second brother."

"what?"

"Tell me, how much does such a house cost per square meter?"

"Then...can't you have two hundred strings and one level?"

"Two hundred guan? I won't let him in for two hundred guan. Let me tell you, it starts from [-] guan per square meter. Don't think it's too expensive. There's no discount. If you can't afford it, you can get a loan. To be honest, how many years ago? I fell in love with this piece of land.”

Zhao Kuangyin said with a gloomy face: "It's... it's unbecoming. Besides, if the palace is used by ordinary people, wouldn't it be overstepping the rules and violating the rules?"

Zhao Guangmei said: "Brother, we can't even make money for the sake of face, right? If you leave this palace to me, I can easily earn one or two hundred million yuan. In addition, if you add the mansions of the ministers... If you can add another [-] million, how about you spend the [-]-[-] million on the new palace in Luoyang?"

"So much? Then... that's indeed quite good. Is this called taking from the people and using it for the people?"

But I couldn't help but wonder if the palace in Luoyang could be built bigger. If the capital was moved to Chang'an one day, the palace in Luoyang could be sold at a good price.

"According to you, although the capital move is very expensive, in fact... can it still make money?"

Zhao Guangmei nodded: "It does make money."

"Then...then won't it be impossible to spend this money this year? Otherwise, the money from your trading company should not go to the imperial court this year?"

"This is absolutely unacceptable. Although the merchant houses and the imperial court cannot be said to be distinct from each other, they must be able to distinguish each other. Otherwise, chaos will inevitably occur in the future."

"Then how should I spend so much money? Save it? I don't have any ideas. How about you tell me how to spend it?"

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "I do have some ideas. I wonder if the imperial court should spend about 5000 million... to issue agricultural subsidies?"

"Huh? Agricultural subsidies?"

(End of this chapter)